MOTHER AND SON: 19 YEARS AND COUNTING Children think their parents know all the answers. Their parents are pillars of rock to which they can tether themselves in the storms of youth. When all falls to the ground in seeming ruin, parents still stand tall. It gives them comfort. It makes them feel safe. I remind myself of this when my older daughter thinks I am about to cry. I very rarely cry. But when my friend Chris was run over by a drug addled 23-year old bank teller, I cried plenty. I sobbed like a baby. It was such an unexpected bolt out of the blue, “Rich, Chris was…
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“I love the University of Chicago!”
I have written hundreds and hundreds of college recommendation over the past fifteen years. Each fall the task of writing these letter has always been above and beyond the teaching and grading of my Advanced Placement students in public school classes that were significantly larger in number than the twenty six the College Board urged. (My principal would just laugh if I told him the College Board recommends no more than 26 students per AP class. I would say the average class size was 37.) Writing letters of recommendation was not officially part of my job description, but it was something unofficially expected of teachers, especially those who taught Honors or AP classes,…
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19th Anniversary in 2015: The State of the Internet
As I write this, it is the 19th anniversary of the birth of my webpage. I look back with fondness on the excitement and novelty at the dawn of the Internet circa 1996 when “early adopters” such as myself flocked to the World Wide Web to communicate and explore the artistic possibilities. To this day I can vividly feel the chill running up my spine as I sent an email to Russia for free, knowing the recipient on the other side of the planet would receive it almost immediately. Mirabile dictu! The idea in back in 1996 that I could post my thoughts to the Web and anyone anywhere with…